The "Last Chance" Major wound up in Columbus, Ohio this year after traditionally being held in Sterling Hts, Michigan for as long as I can remember. They call it the last chance because it is the final chance to earn regular season Nationwide Conference USSSA points and make the top 16 team in the standings which locks your team into the 2017 USSSA Major World Series! The tournament began with 26 teams (23 from the league) and all 6 Major teams on Friday night in perfect but windy weather. So the gusting winds coming in from the highway near the field blew straight in from left on Field #17 and straight in from Right on Field #16 which made scoring difficult on those two baseball fields. But it also made for high scoring games on fields #14 and #15 where it blew out at up to 28 miles per hour.

The play in games were relatively uneventful as far as upsets as all 10 of the higher seeds advanced to play a second game in the winner's bracket. So in the second round Friday #1 Smash It/Scene/TDB/Miken/Worth run ruled TG Brand Easton 33-17 after TG had just knocked off rival 'B' team Premier 24-23. #2 Resmondo/OA/HAuto/SpTank/Easton came from a double digit deficit to beat Oklahoma 'A' team Seminoles 44-37 on field #15. #3 ranked Worth/Astros/K&G run ruled TDB/TMSports 41-20, and in the night cap Nightmare/Miken upset major team Newbreed 29-21. In more 2nd round action Saturday morning Racks crushed The Scene/HDLNS 29-8 and Precision/3rd Street run ruled 'AA' rival Xtreme/Miken 28-7.

In the 3rd round the "Final 8" then started at noon on Saturday with Nightmare/Miken grabbing a 3 run lead on Worth Astros going into the bottom of the 7th and Astros could muster just 1 run with homer's left and lost 22-20. Then on field #15 Racks had a golden opportunity to gain some points on their Major peers but got smoked by Resmondo 25-9 with the wind blowing out? In the lower half of the bracket Smash It Sports/Scene cruised past Precision 38-18 when Precision failed to make plays on those hard infield shots, and Dan Smith run ruled upstart Bay Area Legends 31-11 in a short 4 inning game.

The final 4 then started at 6 PM Saturday with Resmondo pulling away from and run ruling Nightmare who put up a fight 37-22 and Smash It Sports/Scene using superior infield defense to beat Dan Smith 35-20. The winner's bracket finals then began immediately following the semi finals at 7:30 PM on field #14. Resmondo and Smash It Sports/Scene the #2 and #1 teams in the country battled it out on the show field. Resmondo appeared to be headed to a rare victory over Smash It Sports/Scene but a late 7 run rally left Resmondo looking at a 5 run deficit with 5 home runs left in the bottom of the 7th and they didn't score in a 30-4 defeat.

The loser's bracket meanwhile was littered with dead carcasses of teams that were beaten by the two major teams SIS/Thunder and Newbreed who had each lost their first game on Friday and were making a run. Thunder knocked off Scene/Cornerstone, OA Apparel, Racks by 2, Xtreme 18-3, Dan Smith 37-22, and Nightmare 30-22 late Saturday night to advance to Sunday's final 3. Newbreed sent home Rebel, TDB/TMSports, Precision by 1, and Premier by the run rule before losing to Nightmare. So Nightmare finished an impressive 4th and was the highest 'AA' team again.

On Sunday in the loser's final SIS/Thunder who should have been exhausted got off to an impressive 14-2 lead on Resmondo and put them away when Resmondo forgot how to field 31-14.

Then in the first championship game Thunder could not put away SIS/Scene when they had them down 11 and a run rule looming and in typical SIS/Scene fashion the boys in white and purple came back to take a 35-30 lead and Thunder with the hammer was unable to produce against Purcell in the late innings and SIS/Scene won their 27th game in a row and their 9th tournament of the season.

The tournament was well played throughout but SIS/Scene was too much in the late innings and played a lockdown infield defense on the artificial turf. Their pitching and infield defense was superior to their opponents and they had enough clutch hitting late to stay undefeated. Resmondo and Thunder both let them off the hook in the late innings. The umpiring had its hiccups this week which was unusual but it didn't change the outcome of any of the games. The best diving plays of the weekend in the infield were by Aaron Sandoval of JBL and Adam Ussery of Thunder. The best diving catch was by Mike Ortiz of Worth Astros. The defense in the championship game by the two Smash It teams would be worth watching on the archived game video as both teams traded great play after great play.

Season ending points standings

The batting title came down to Brad Carlsen of Bay Area Legends and Filip Washington of OA Apparel. Flip went 12-16 to finish 164-198 to finish at .828 and Carlsen went 12-16 to finish 162-195 .830

Smash It/Scene/TDB gets ready for the championship game!

SIS/Thunder center fielder Brian Logan takes on SIS/Scene in the championship game

The baseball quad in Columbus hadsome strange quirks and bends in the outfieldfence.

Feild #16 had a mini-green monster that was only 300 feet or less but then it jutted straight out to 360.

The 'EC' bad batch stadium was the main ball used.

Bad batch meaning they had a lower compression than a stadium but higher than a classic M.

Oldscout pollers were correct

Video Highlites brought to you by:

Video clips. Not sure why the quality of the clips seems a little less this week.

I must have uploaded them differently somehow.

Clip highlights include Adam Ussery's diving play at SS.

A bare foot race between Boothe, Gallmeier, and Newman for $100.

And a catch in CF by DW of a Harvey homer…lol

Also the line drive off of Purcells ankle…

Long Bombers of the Week

Racks Argen Dodds put on an absolute hitting show over on field #16 in the loser's bracket Saturday. He hit the hardest line drive homer to left center over the 355 mark across the parking lot and into the tall grass beyond the parked cars. It drew a number of oohs and ahs from those in attendance. Later in the game he hit one as high as it was long as it cleared the parked cars. Using google earth I am estimating that shot at 460 feet.

Defensive MVP was Andy Purcell. Jr and Reyna both get an honorable mention as they made so many great plays as did Adam Ussery of Thunder.

Team by team notes brought to you by:

1st Place Smash It/Scene/TDB/DirtySportsWear/Miken/Worth

Conf Major from NY 5-0 Record

I am running out of great things to say about the sheer dominance of SIS/Scene in 2017. They played the turf better than anyone else. That second hop and the way it speeds up on the turf was played so well by Luis Reyna over and over again. Then Jr, Briggs, and Rulli would do the same and Kanaby would stab a line drive or a hotshot. Purcell who played the last 2.5 games with a severly bruised ankle and shin also snapped off the hardest liner of the tournament up the middle. The timely hitting was not dominant but good enough and as in past weeks when one part of their game isn't crisp, the other two parts are. 27 wins in a row and only 5 losses on the season may be the most impressive season of any Conference team in its 12 year history considering the level of the teams this year.

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Jason Branch and Andy Purcell

Brandon Dillon and Luis Reyna

Dennis Rulli and Andrew Collins (11 HR)

Ryan Harvey wrapped up the Nationwide Conference USSSA Home Run and RBI title

Erik Kanaby with the backhand and Nic Santana in CF

Don Dedonatis and Cory Briggs

Andy's leg after being drilled by a hard liner.

He played the rest of the tournament like this.

2nd Place SIS/Thunder/Miken/Worth/Louisville

Conf Major from NY 7-2 Record

Thunder lost to Bay Area 12-7 with the wind gusting straight in over on the biggest field #17. Then they sent home everyone they came up against and looked fairly fresh (considering) going into the championship game on Sunday. They had the hammer in the bottom of the 6th and 7th but just didn't come through against their rival SIS team and ended up 2nd. They had impressive wins over major teams Racks, Dan Smith, and Resmondo and beat some of the top 'AA' teams in OA and Nightmare during their run through the loser's bracket. They played without Stovall (work) and Kennington left before the championship game. Also Filby didn't play much but CF Brian Logan was back full go after his recent injuries. Pitcher Andy Vitcak took a hard shot bouncer up under the chin area it seemed during the championship but after laying on the ground for a half a minute to make sure everything was working, he got up and pitched right away. These pitchers are as tough as they come.

Resmondo didn't field the ball and their "big offense" roster never scored like they should especially in those games with the wind blowing out. On Sunday when they could have made up for Saturday nights 7th inning collapse, they didn't…

There is always the Major to snap out of their "Rip Van Winkle" like season long sleep walk… Sorry, just calling it like I see it.

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Clark and Sanchez pitching for Resmondo

Fulk hammers a homer

Bazat at SS and Wegman in LF

4th Place Nightmare/Miken

Conf 'AA' from MO 4-2 Record

Nightmare won their first 3 games including a big upset of Newbreed Friday night and then they knocked off Worth Astros the top 'AA' team 22-20. After losing to Resmondo they completed a 4th place finish with a 30-22 win over Newbreed AGAIN! This team seems to get stronger as the season goes on and the addition of Tommie Melton seems to have helped push the team to another level. They are now 8th in the points! Billy Maggard when the stats come in may have crossed the 100 homer mark!

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Ben Dunn

Tom Melton was a big energy lift for Nightmare

Hinojosa drives a nail

2B Nolan Fogle

Tied 5th Place Newbreed/GTS/Demarini

Conf Major from WA 4-2 Record

Newbreed played without Utley, Chente, and Powers had a sprained ankle. They picked up Geno Buck for the stretch run but Newbreed couldn't beat Nightmare, losing to them twice. The team hasn't had that great energy they had in 2016 most of the year but they did show some heart by finishing 5th.

Trending Even

Geno Buck returned to the Conference with Newbreed

Mooch does the one leg whirling dervish pitch

Cordova at 2B, Flood at MI, and Whaley at SS

Tied 5th Place Dan Smith/Menosse

Conf Major from CA 2-2 Record

Dan Smith was playing well with run rule wins over OA and Bay Area. In the SIS/Scene game they just never had those big innings that you need against Purcell and then dropped a late night Saturday game to Thunder 37-22. They seem healthy and poised to break out but it just hasn't happened lately.

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Zirkle triples

Lloyd turns two

Pearson and Guill

Other top finishing Conference teams

Tied 7th Place – Xtreme/Miken/ASP/Athlon

Conf 'AA' from MN 4-2 Record

Xtreme had a chance early on to put Precision down but lost on Saturday morning. In the loser's bracket they sent home Worth Astros 32-31 but then only scored 3 against Thunder as the Sundayitis set in…

Danny Evans did a share of the pitching.

Trending up sort of!

Vittitow and Newman

Tied 7th Place – Premier/Easton

Conf 'B' from OH 3-2 Record

Premier beat Seminoles, Scene/HDLNS, and Bay Area Legends after that one run loss on Friday to 'B' rival TG Brand. Impressive and they only needed two more wins to slip into the Major and knock out Steel!

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Brian Lakes

Clay Norton

Kevin Forwith

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One response to “A look back at last years report —> 2017 USSSA Columbus B.A.T.S. Major tournament report!”

Always fun reading the reports. In the recap section with SIS/ The Scene, the Picture of Purcell hitting would be a GREAT caption this! Backspin swing, barrel facing down, eyes on barrel, but ball above head!